Magnetic game board



Dec. 29, 1953 w. "r. MATHIS MAGNETIC GAME BOARD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledMay 4, 1951 INVENTOR BY ,M W ATTORNEY5 W. T. MATHIS MAGNETIC GAME BOARDDec. 29, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 III Filed May 4, 1951 I INVENTOR k ATTORN EY5 Patented Dec. 29, 1953 UNITED s'rars ram OFFICE MAGNETIC GAMEBOARD Waddy T. Mathis, Hamden, Conn.

Application May 4, 1951, Serial No. 224,475

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a game or amusement device,-and moreparticularly to a device of this type in which game pieces are propelledover the surface of a board of magnetic attraction, the propellingelement being a magnet moved under control of the operator so that thegame pieces may be propelled in any direction over the fiat surface uponwhich they are supported so that a universal movement of these piecesmay be efiected over the surface.

As illustrated, the present invention comprises a game board having asmooth supporting surface upon which the game pieces are adapted toslide although they may be mounted upon wheels if desired. Asillustrated, the game pieces are in the form of ships or vessels, andthe smooth surface of the game board represents a body of water.

One of the game pieces, as illustrated, is adapted to act as a tractivedevice, a tug boat in the present instance, and it is used to draw orpush others of the game pieces, while anothergame piece is in the formof a ferryboat which is adapted to be moved about but not to draw orpropel other objects. In either case, it is desirable that the gamepieces which'are moved by the moving magnet be under universal controlor so arranged that they may be moved in any direction at any point intheir courses or routes,

and that their movements be directly under control of the operator sothat he may at will move the game pieces in any desired direction. Withthe present arrangement it will be found that this requires considerableskill and coordination on the part of the operator which adds to theenjoyment and the attractiveness of the device.

In the present instance, this universal control over the game pieces isprovided by so mounting the propelling magnet that it is moved by twoactuators, one of which moves it in one direction, and the other ofwhich moves it in another direction substantially at right angles to thefirst. Moreover, these two actuators are individually operated but maybe operated simultaneously, so that the movement of the magnet and ofthe game piece attracted thereto is the resultant of the movementimpressed upon the magnet by the two actuators. The direction of thisresultant may, of course, be any that is desired for while each actuatormoves the magnet in one line or one direction, it may also be reversedso as to move the magnet in the opposite direction.

Specifically this operation is obtained by sup.- porting the magnet upona pin or stud which stud upon which the magnet is mounted is moved inone direction only by one of the actuators, and in a directiontransverse to the longitudinal dimension of that actuator,-it may movelongitudinally throughthe slot of that actuator if such movement isimpressed upon it by the sec- 0nd actuator. Moreover, the pin or studupon which the magnet is mounted is revolublyreceived in theintersection of the slots in the two actuators, and the propellingmagnet is eccentricallymounted with respect to the pin so that themagnet'will tend to follow the pin at all times when it is being movedand will turn through an angle of degrees when the direction of themagnet is reversed.

One object of the present invention is to provide anew and improvedamusement device in which game pieces are moved about by magneticattraction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a game. board or amusementdevice of the character described in which the game pieces are movedabout by magnetic attraction, the movement at all times being in suchdirection sired by the operator.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a magnetic gameboard or amusement device of the character described in which thedirection of the movement of the game pieces may be controlled orchanged at the will of the operator at all times by his manipulation ofthe controls of the device so that considerable skill or coordination inthe manipulation of the controls may be exhibited by the operator.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a magneticamusement device of the character described in which the controlling oractuating magnet is arranged for a two-dimensional movement, the twomovements being independently controlled and simultaneously effected sothat the actual movement of the propelling magnet is a resultant of thetwo movements impressed thereupon by the actuating de- V1065. r

as de- To these and other ends the invention consists in the novelfeatures and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a game board or amusement deviceembodying my improvements;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device;

Fig. 3 is a top plan View of the device with the supporting boardremoved to show the operating parts therebelow;

Fig. 4 isasectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detailed sectional view somewhat enlarged on line 55 of Fig.2; and.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of one of. thegame. pieces.

To illustrate a preferred embodimentoff invention, I have shown a framewhich in this instance may be in the form of" a container I0 having ahinged cover I I, front and rear walls 12,, side walls 13, and a bottomM, the cover being hinged to -the rear. wall.. Mounted. upon. the.bottomof the.container. and upstandingtherefrom are. a pair. of. rails.IF. extending. from front. to. back. of. the; container, and, alsomounted. upon.v

the. bottom 1.4.- are similar: parallel rails. l6, one.

adjacentthe frontand one adjacent. the. back. ofthe. container, these.rails. extending: from side. to side or inatra-nsverse directionrelatively. to. that of the rails [5.

From Fig: 4: of the. drawings, it will be: seen: that the. rails are;slightly higher than the' rails P6,. and rotatably' mounted onv theupper edgesof the. rails. tare. a pair of. shafts. l1 and: 1-8,. one:adjacent each. sideof. the containen.

Securedc upon: the ends. of. these shafts between Q the rails. Hi. andthe. front and rear. walls: ofthe: container are pulleys 2 2.0: adjacentthe rear wallot the; container, and pulleys 21. adjacent; the. front.wall. Endlesscordsbr belts 2&2 and23 are-trained. aboutthe. pulleys 2.0and. 21' respectively; As. shown. the shafts. H and; I8 are rotatablysecured. in. place upon. the-..- rails l-6.. by; staples 24salthough.anywdeslred-zsecuring means maybe em.

ployed:; r v 7 Similarly, shafts 2 5 and 26 are rota-tably see I curedupon the rai1s l5 and; It, the shaftZS-being; disposed. adjacent the:front wall. ofthe container. and.-.the shaft. 26. adjacent the-rearwall.- thereofi. Upon; the ends of.these-shaftsare-se cured pulleys 21and 28. and endless cordsaor-belts:

rand-13wareztrainedabout.the pulleys 21 and 28 respectively. The; shaft?I 82 extends: through' the: front. wall. 12: of the" container: and".is: provided; upon; its. extended end with: an. operating crank:

3.|-,.,while.- the shaft extends through the-left:

hand side wall of the container 'and. is: providedz with;v ansoperating.crank 32: so thatthe operator may. rotate..:the shaft l8-- with theright hand and: the shaft25: with. the left. hand:

Slidably: mounted upon: the rails. 16: is an. ac tuatingmemberinltheform of a'.slat. 33 which: extends: from. frontto back. Thisslat is pro' vided with a longitudinally extendingsl'ot' 34' ex tendingsubstantially throughout the length of the slat. The latter is providedwith reduced end portions 35- which lie beyond the rails I 6* andwhichxare secured to. the cords 22 and 23 sothat movement of these cordswill eifectmovement of the. actuating, member 33.. from one. sideto. theother. of. the container, the actuating. member. being maintained.parallel. to. itself. during. this. movement. It.- will, of course, .be.obvious. that. as. the. crank.3l may be turnedin either direction.

the actuating member 33 may be moved from. 7.5:.

left to right or from right to left at the will of the operator.

Similarly, a second actuating member or slat 31 is slidably mounted uponthe rails [5, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The member 31 is at a higherlevel than the member 33 so that the latter may lie below the former.The actuating member 31 is likewise provided with a slot 38 extendinglongitudinally thereof for substantially its full length and. at itsends is provided with reduced portions 39 which are secured to the cords29 and 30. It will be apparent, therefore, that as the crank 32 isrotated to turn the shaft 25, the actuatingmember 32 may be moved fromfront toback'and vice versa with respect to the container; the."actuating member being maintained in positions parallel to itself andsliding upon the upper surfaces of the rails l5 just as the actuating.member 33 slides upon the rails l6 in a transverse direction.

Still referring to Figs. 3 and 4, itwill beseen that the 510155.34 and38 willregister at. one point to provide the openingthrough both of theactuating members 33 and 3.1. Rotatably mounted. within theseregistering portions of the slots 341 and 3B 'isa stem or pin 40 uponthe upper end of which is mounted a plate 4]. This plate may be of anydesired non-magnetic material such as. thin non-magnetic metal orplastic, for example, and may be dished slightly sothat it will rotate.more freely upon the slat 3T upon. which. it rests. Upon the uppersurface of the member 4| is abar magnet 42; an-dit willbe. seen thatthis magnetis eccentrically mounted with respect.

.. to the pin 40 so thatwhen thepin is moved as.

will be later.d'escribed,,itj will tend to rotate about the pinMite-such a positiorrthat.themagnetwill. lie rearwardly ofthe pin withrespect to its direction of movement. or. in a trailing position.If,'.for example, the direction .of movement of. themagnet isreversed.as,. for example, by turningone. of the cranks 31 and" 32 in.a. direction opposite. to. thatin which it. waslast. rotated, the pin.401 will turn throughan angle. of .180. degrees sothat'. themagnetwouldlieuponthe. side. ofthe pin op.- posite to that previouslyoccupied- With. the. above construction. it. will. be. seen.

that rotation. of. the crank 31. ih.-.a.clockwise. di.- rection. will.move. the. actuator 3.3. toward. the.

, right, as. shown. in, Fig. 3,. and likewise. move. the. magnetin thesame. direction. Rotation of this.

crank alone. will only. vary the. positionof. the. magnetbetween thesides of. the. container. and. will'notvary its positionfromfront to.back.. The.-

. crank 3|. may, of course, be rotated in theopposite. direotiontomovethe actuator 33. toward...

the left. Rotationof the.crank.32, however, in-a clockwise direction,viewed from-the left of Fig.

3', ,will efiect movementof theactuator 3.1. toward.

the operator and will; therefore, move the magnet in this direction,while rotation of this. crank.

in the opposite direction will move the actuator. 3T toward'the rearofthe container.

Itwill'be. apparent that movement of. either of the actuatorsalonewillmove the pin 40. lengthwise of the slot intheother actuator so that.as

long as. the other. actuator is not moved, the-pin willalways be given astraight-line movement paralleleither to the side wallsof the containeror; the front and rear walls of the container depend-- ing upon whichactuator is movedr It will a-lso bev obvious. that: the atcuators may bemoved inde-- pendently or may be moved simultaneously. If both. aremoved; simultaneously; the movement of-the pin will be. aresultant of.the. movementsof.

the actuators as the pin will aways lie at the intersection of the slots34 and 38. Therefore, by manipulating the the cranks 3| and 32 universalmovement of the magnet may be obtained in any direction or in anydesired path at the will of the operator, the cranks, of course, beingmanipulatable independently or simultaneously and in either direction.

Adjacent each corner of the container is a post 44, and upon these postsis supported a game board 45, the upper surface of which forms thesupporting surface for the game pieces. As shown in Fig. 5, this gameboard is spaced above the actuator 31 so that the magnet 42 lies inclose proximity to the lower surface of the board. As in the presentembodiment of my invention the game pieces are adapted to slide upon theupper surface of the board 45, this surface may be covered with a smoothmaterial such as cellophane 46 so as to oifer as little resistance aspossible to the movement of the pieces.

As shown more especially in Figs. 1 and 2, the upper surface of the gameboard is made to represent a body of water, and the game pieces whichare designed to move upon this surface are in the form of vessels ofvarious types. Such an arrangement may, of course, be varied as desiredas, for example, the game pieces might conceivably be wheeled vehicleshaving other features varied accordingly. As shown, game pieces comprisea number of ships or vessels 48, and around the border of the surface 46are shown appropriate accessories such as slips or docks 49 within whichthe ships 48 may be received, and representations of warehouses or thelike 50, it being understood that these devices are raised from thesurface 46 so that the movement of a boat entering a slip will bechecked by the sides thereof.

The vessel 48 are preferably of non-magnetic material, but each isprovided in at least one end, for example the stem end thereof, with apin 5| of magnetic material. These pins are not, however, within themagnetic field of the magnet 42, and in order that the vessels may bemoved over the surface 46, I provide a power vehicle or vessel such, forexample, as the tugboat 52, the lower portion 53 of which is of magneticmaterial so as to be attracted by the magnet 42 and moved with thelatter. Preferably the member 53 is a permanent magnet so that when inthe field of the magnet 42 it Will always occupy the same positionrelatively to the magnet 42 so that the tugboat will normally be movedin a forward direction. Also, if when the member 53 is a permanentmagnet, it will not have to depend upon induced magnetism to attract thepin 5| of one of the vessels 48 and will, when the tugboat is moved overthe supporting surface 46, draw the boat with it.

It will be apparent that as the magnet may be moved in any desiredcourse below the surface 46, the tugboat which is moved by the magnetmay likewise be moved in any desired course and draw the vessels 48along with it so as to move these vessels to any desired position.Either end of the tugboat may be directed against the pin 5| of one ofthe vessels 48 so that the vessel may be pulled or pushed as desired inorder that the bow end of the ship may be made to enter the slip ordock. It will also be apparent that with the complete control over thetugboat which is afforded by the manipulation singly or simultaneouslyof the cranks 3| and 32, the latter may be hooked up to any of the thevessels or may be nosed against the side or either end of the vessels towarp then into the docks or slips in a manner quite similar to that ofthe actual tugboat and passenger liner. Also the tug may be detachedfrom one of the vessels when such is desired by merely turning it in anarrow circle so that it will followaround the side of the boat and workitself away from the pm.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the pin is loose- 1y received in the slots 34and 38, so that it is not only rotatable in these slots but alsoslidable in a vertical direction to permit the magnet 42 to approach theunder side of the game board 45, as shown in Fig. 5, when the members 42and 53 are mutually attracted. This enables the magnet 42 to approachclosely to the game piece regardless of any irregularities there mightbe in the surface of the game board.

As shown more especially in Figs. 2 and 6 of the drawings, a ferryboat55 is provided, the latter being designed to enter the slip 56 in thewharf 51. This ferryboat is preferably of light non-magnetic material,and upon its lower side is provided with a downwardly facing elongatedslot 58 within which is freely mounted a disk 59 of magnetic material.The disk 59 is adapted to be attracted and carried along with the magnet42 so that the ferryboat may be propelled as desired. If the magnet 59is not attached to the ferryboat but merely lies freelywithin the recess58, the latter does not turn when its direction is reversed, either endbecoming the leading end depending upon the direction of travel, as isusually the case with ferries.

A slip 60 is also provided in the wharf 51 (Fig. 2) in which slip thetug 52 may be berthed when it is desired to discontinue the use of thetoy or to release the tug from the magnet. The motion of the tug will bechecked by the sides of the slip and continued movement of the magnet 42will draw it away from the tug.

As the board 45 may not be transparent, it would not be possible for theoperator always to know the position of the magnet 42. Therefore, thedevice is so constructed that the slips 56 and 60 will lie in the pathof the magnet when the actuator 31 has been moved to the limit of itsforward movement adjacent the front of the container l2. In other words,if the operator does not know the position of the magnet 42, he may turnthe crank 32 in the proper direction to draw the actuator 31 to thefront of the device. Then by rotating the crank 3| and moving the magnet42 transversely across the front of the container he may pick up eitherthe tug 52 or the ferry 55, as desired, if these pieces are in theirslips 5B and 60. Having once picked up the desired one of these vessels,he may direct them over any desired course upon the surface 46.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention,it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the detailsshown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit ofthe invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an amusement device, means providing a supporting surface, a gamepiece movably supported thereon and having a permanent bar magnet at itslower portion, a second bar magnet disposed below said supportingsurface in a substantially horizontal position to directionally attractand move said game piece, actuating meanslfor. saidzsecondt magnetcomprising: pair of crossed substantially? horizontal elongated? memberseach having a; slot: extendingv lengthwise thereof, means for? mounting;said; second:- named magnet upon: said members at the in.-

tersection of said: slots: for. rotational? movement means for said,second: magnet comprising a; pair:

of crossed substantially horizontal elongated members each having a slotextending lengthwise thereof, means for: mounting said secondnamed.magnet upon said: members ati the initersection of said slotsiorirotationali movement about a vertical axis and for movement in avertical direction to permit the second", magnet to approach saidsupportingsurface; said magnet being supported eccentricaily withrespect to said axis, and means for moving each of said membersin'atdirection transverse to its length.

3. In an amusement. device, means providing a supporting surface, a gamepiece movably supported thereon and having a permanent bar magnet at'itslower portion, a second bar magnet disposed below said: supportingsurface in a.

substantially horizontal position" to directionallyattract: and: movesaid game piece, actuating: meansior said secondmagnet comprising apair? of. crossed substantially horizontal elongated: members eachhaving a slot. extending lengthwise" thereof, means for mounting saidsecond-- named? magnet upon said members at the inter section of saidslots for rotational. movement.

about a vertical axis and for movement in a vertical direction to permitthe secondrmagnet:

to approach. said supporting surface, said maginet: being supportedeccentrically with respect tosaid axis,.and means for moving each ofsaidt members in a directiontransverse to its length, said mountingmeansv comprising a pin attached to-the magnetand extending downwardlytherefrom to be loosely received in said slots.

WADDY T. MATI-EIS.

References Cited in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 754,086 Nichols Mar. 8, 19041,183,977 Hoefle May 23, 1916 1,216,261 Ashley Feb. 20, 1917 1,609,379Morris Dec. 7', 1926 1,988,071 Bryn Jan. 15,1935 2,018,357 Hammond Oct.22;.1935' 2,263,115 Winter Nov. 18;,19e1.

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 450,161 Great Britain July 10, 1936

